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Most people have learned by now that Compact Fluorescent Light-bulbs--CFLs for those of us who wanna sound cool--are extremely efficient, burn cooler, and last longer. So they are the better choice for our lighting.
But the quality of light is different. Lots of people wrinkle their noses at the light CFLs put off.
Shut up. Quit being a baby.
The quality of CFL light isn't bad, it is just different. And every couple of months--in this early developmental stage of the home-CFL technology--filtering and wave advances make CFL light more and more like incandescent light.
But the real problem is just that the 'old' light and the 'new' light are different. So if someone puts CFLs in two lights in a room and leaves incandescents in two other lights, the room looks weird. And people blame the CFLs, and now they've got a bad name.
In each room in a home, you should do a full swap-out to CFLs. As long as there's a transition from one lighting area to another--hall to room, bathroom to hall, etc--you will not really notice the change in light quality unless you are being a little snot and really looking for it. So here's what you do; you acknowledge that bulbs break. It happens.
So when one incandescent break or dies or whatever in a room, do a full swap to CFLs.
You take the other incandescents and put them in the closet, and you can use them to swap out in the rooms you haven't changed over yet. You can keep them around for rooms where you rarely use the lights--basement corners, tool sheds, etc. because in those locations their horrible heat and inefficiency will not effect your power bills as badly.
And, just like that, you've made the transition. Tis generation is only one that will have to figure out the transitional nature of greener living. Many principalities, and even nations, are beginning to outlaw or cease use of incandescent bulbs, so the next generation will not have to figure this out. But we do. So let's just get on with it.
In the near future LED bulb technology will mature to the point were we use LEDs instead of CFLs. A CFL with the brightness equivalent to a 65-watt incandescent gives off almost NO heat, uses in the neighborhood of 3 watts--as opposed to 65; you do the math--and last even longer than CFLs. There may be a day when each owner of a home has to buy light-bulbs, and then forget about it till their kids go to college or they sell the house.
Keep an eye out.
Want to know what you can do to reduce your carbon footprint? Find out on Planet Green TV's Wa$ted.
